


Hot Patootie, If You Know What I Mean

by LadyDrace



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Human, Anxiety, Derek Hale Has Issues, First Meetings, Fluff, Getting Together, Happy Ending, Interpreter Stiles Stilinski, M/M, Mentioned Kate Argent, POV Derek Hale, Rocky Horror References
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-09
Updated: 2017-09-09
Packaged: 2018-12-25 08:19:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12031893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyDrace/pseuds/LadyDrace
Summary: Derek's new lawyer is deaf, which means she comes with an interpreter. You're supposed to mostly ignore interpreters out of politeness, but this turns out to be a lot harder for Derek than he expected.





	Hot Patootie, If You Know What I Mean

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Hepzheba](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hepzheba/gifts).



> This is a birthday present for the lovely Hepzheba. <3 Hope you have a wonderful day, sweetie! <3
> 
> Unbetaed, but thoroughly edited.

Derek's new lawyer is deaf. More important than that, though, is the fact that she's fucking terrifying, and Derek doesn't doubt for one minute that when she's done with Kate, the whole Argent line right back to the Stone Age will be shuddering. Not that it's gonna be that difficult of a case to keep Kate in prison, as it seems like every new parole hearing brings with it new reports of her violence and harassment towards her fellow prisoners.

 

Still, Derek can't help but be a complete mess of anxiety every time Kate somehow manipulates her way into a new hearing, and brings all the old trauma back to the forefront of his mind. He's doing well in therapy and he's making progress. But every hearing means taking a few steps back, and Derek is _tired_. He's tired, sad and scared, but he couldn't live with himself if he didn't do his absolute best to make sure the world would never be exposed to her evil ever again. So here he is, for the third time in ten years, preparing to go in and remind the parole board why Kate should never be let out.

 

Up until now Derek has had the same lawyer; a kind, yet granite-steady grandfather named Bob. But the man had finally retired two years ago, his place taken by the much younger Janet, and now Derek has to put his trust in yet another person, who nonetheless comes with great references and over a decade of experience. She also comes with an interpreter. Derek had tried to keep the number of new people down by assuring her that his ASL is decent, but he'd had to admit defeat pretty quickly, because all the legal jargon kept tripping him up, and so here they are. Derek, Janet and... Stiles. There's definitely an in-joke there, judging from the way Stiles and Janet share a look during introductions, but Derek doesn't give a shit about that. He could look up Stiles' actual name in the legal documents if he wanted to, but every time he so much as looks at a piece of paper that might contain Kate's name Derek gets sick to his stomach, which is all the more reason to have a lawyer for all of those things.

 

Even with the aid of spoken English, Derek is struggling to keep up as Janet explains what's gonna happen and how things are different from last time. It's unrelated to the lingo, though. Janet is a tiny, thin woman with dainty features and cute, round glasses. She also looks like she could kill a man just from glaring at him, but still. Tiny woman. Stiles is very much not a tiny woman. He's tall, with long, expressive limbs, broad shoulders and a voice deep enough that it makes Derek's head hurt from how badly his voice fits the person he's speaking for. Every time Stiles speaks for Janet, Derek can't help but turn to look at him, which is definitely a little bit rude, but the voice is distracting.

 

And it really doesn't help that once Derek is distracted by Stiles there's plenty to look at. His face is expressive and open, his eyes warm, and basically he looks exactly like something Derek would get flustered over in any context outside of the professional. And that's not even starting on his _hands_. All in all, Derek probably spends more time looking at Stiles than at Janet, which is unfortunate.

 

“Hey, can I talk to you for a second?”

 

It takes Derek an extra couple of seconds to realize that it wasn't actually Janet speaking this time, and turns his eyes back to Stiles a few beats too slowly. “Uh. Sure.”

 

Stiles leads him outside with a few gestures at Janet, who barely even nods at them, busy making notes. Outside the office Stiles offers Derek a small smile. “Look, I'm just the interpreter, I don't know you, but I think it's getting pretty obvious that you have some kind of problem with me. Which is fine, I'm not blaming you, but if there's a risk it messes up communication we probably need to do something about it. I've worked with Janet for a few years now but if you need to we could have a replacement brought in just for your case-”

 

“I don't have a problem with you,” Derek blurts, caught off guard by actually speaking to Stiles rather than to Janet through him. “I mean, I do, sort of. It's just your...” he casts around for a way to be less crass about this, but diplomacy was never his strong suit.

 

“My... what? If it's a triggery thing with, like...I dunno, my cologne or something I'm totally willing to try and change that while working with you.”

 

“No, it's...” Derek groans with frustration. He's gonna have to be brutally honest. Goddammit. ”It's just that you're... distracting.”

 

To his surprise, this makes Stiles curl in on himself slightly. “Ah, sorry, man, I know I get a little flaily sometimes, it ticks off a lot of people. I'll try and restrain myself if-”

 

“No! I mean you're a really hot guy and Janet is a tiny woman and it's weirding me out!”

 

Stiles blinks. “Did... did you just call me hot?”

 

Derek groans again and hides his eyes behind his hand. “Yes. I'm sorry, this is so inappropriate, I'm just... having adjustment problems.”

 

“Oh, well don't worry, I had to adjust myself when you came in too, so you're not alone.”

 

There's silence so crisp you can hear a pin drop after that, and Derek looks back up slowly, feeling like his ears are on fire. “I meant... adjusting to having to deal with more new people.”

 

“I know,” Stiles says with a grin. “I was trying to lighten the mood. And also sort of low-key let you know that the physical appreciation is mutual.”

 

“Well. Okay, then,” Derek says slowly, unsure where to even go from there. “So. What do we do?”

 

Stiles shrugs, and Derek can't help but track the movement with his eyes, because those shoulders look _very_ nice. “Guess that depends on whether you think you can deal with it until the hearing next week.”

 

“I'm... not sure,” Derek says honestly, and Stiles regards him for a moment, eyes searching his face.

 

“Okay, then I suggest we get this meeting over with, and then for the court case we'll bring in someone else. Just to be sure it doesn't fuck anything up for you,” Stiles says, and Derek feels almost weak that Stiles understands how important it is for Derek that this goes off without a hitch.

 

“Thank you,” Derek says on a sigh, and immediately feels a little shitty over it.

 

But Stiles just sends him a grin. “Don't think I'm not being selfish as hell over this, because if I stayed on, I'd have to wait like a week and a half before asking you out, and I don't think I could handle that. Janet already asked me twice if I needed a break or something, I kept messing up my signing. Couldn't stop staring at you,” he admits, low and warm, and that warmth finds a home in Derek's stomach for a minute before cold reality sneaks back in.

 

“I'm not... easy,” Derek says slowly. “Don't get me wrong, if you ask me out, I'll say yes, but... I have... issues.” He doesn't add with what, because the list would be _very_ long. Intimacy, emotions, facial expressions, _people_. He wouldn't blame Stiles for giving that a pass.

 

To his surprise, though, Stiles huffs out a small laugh. “I know, Janet already gave me the shovel talk. I don't know the full story, but from what I've seen and heard while working with Janet? You're a very brave man, Derek. And anyone would have issues after what you went through. Yet, here you are, time and time again, standing up for what's right. I admire that. And if you're willing to give it a try, then so am I,” Stiles says, his smile making all kinds of acrobatics happen in Derek's chest.

 

“Okay,” he says weakly. ”Okay.”

 

“So. You wanna go for coffee after this? Or do you wanna-”

 

“Yes, please,” Derek blurts, completely unable to wait for Stiles to even finish his sentence. It gets him another smile, though, so it's worth it.

 

“Cool. We should probably go in before Janet charges you for another hour,” Stiles says, though he's obviously struggling to contain his grin. Janet does not charge for another hour, but she does give them both a disturbing wink and nudge combo when Stiles asks her to bring in his replacement for the hearing.

 

By the time the hearing comes around, though, Stiles is actually there. But his hands aren't doing any talking for Janet. Instead, one hand is holding Derek's, squeezing it in support, and the other is busy crossing fingers that Kate stays where she is.

 

Not only is she not granted parole, but Janet argues the case so well that the parole board agrees that Kate should not be allowed another hearing for another ten years, regardless of good behavior, and Derek can't even bring himself to feel ashamed of the relieved cry he has right there in the room.

 

He thanks Janet profusely, but she waves him off with a series of gestures too fast for Derek to follow, but which make Stiles sputter. The substitute interpreter translates while Stiles is choking on air: “just don't sprain his fingers, I kinda need him at work.”

 

Derek looks between Janet and Stiles for a second before the penny drops. “Oh, god,” he groans. “No, I'm... no, don't, uh... worry about that.”

 

“Dammit, Janet,” Stiles hisses, and Derek laughs helplessly into his hand. “Call me Brad, and you'll be sorry,” Stiles snaps at him, which really does help.

 

“What, you prefer Frank-n-Furter?”

 

“Well, yeah, but only if that makes you Rocky,” Stiles says with a waggle of his eyebrows.

 

Derek huffs. “No way. I wanna be Eddie. He had the cool bike.”

 

“Of course you go for the leather,” Stiles purrs, and Janet rolls her eyes at them.

 

“Get out of here, kids,” she signs. “Stiles, I'll see you on Monday.”

 

Stiles has the good grace to look a little sheepish. “Sure thing, Boss.”

 

“Behave!” she adds, and then smirks. “Or not. Whatever makes you boys happy.”

 

“Bye, Janet!” Stiles calls and drags Derek away by his arm. “Jeez, she has a disturbing interest in my love life,” he says, but he's smiling, and even though they've barely been dating a week Derek already knows that Stiles adores Janet and doesn't mean a word of all his complaining.

 

“She just wants you to be happy,” Derek says softly, and does his best to push away the fear that he won't be able to make that happen, no matter how hard he tries.

 

Stiles must sense something, though, because he stops Derek in the hallway, stepping in front of him to catch his eye. “Are you... okay? I mean. As okay as you _can_ be after something like this?”

 

There's nothing forced about Derek's smile as he pulls Stiles in with gentle hands on his waist. “Yeah. I'm great, actually. Turns out having someone there to hold my hand really makes a difference.”

 

“Speaking of which,” Stiles says gleefully, “I know you weren't looking at her, but I almost wish you could have seen Kate's face when I kissed your knuckles. Dude, it was _beautiful_ how pissed off she looked.”

 

Derek shudders. “I'll take your word for it. I never wanna see her face again.”

 

“Fair enough.” It's not the busiest hallway they're paused in, but Stiles still eases them a little more to the side, and when Derek raises an eyebrow at him in question, Stiles just kisses him. “That's part one,” he says when he pulls away, and Derek has to blink off how dazed he is.

 

“Of what?”

 

“Of your reward. For being so strong and amazing today.”

 

Derek wants to argue, but Stiles is looking at him all heated and promising, and why bother with self-depreciation when there are more important things going on. “Oh? What's part two?”

 

“You'll have to wait until we get back to your place to find out,” Stiles says breezily. “Oh, but here's a hint: I'm very good with my hands.” He waggles his eyebrows, and Derek laughs helplessly.

 

“I did kinda know that already. But I can't wait to see where this is going.”

 

Stiles gives him another quick peck and then leads him out of the building by his hand. “Only good places, baby.”

 

“Hot _patootie_ ,” Derek mutters, and Stiles' laughter echoes off the buildings around them.

 

“I'll show you rock and roll, Eddie!”

 

And he does. All night long.

 

End.

 

 

 


End file.
